CNY it could start charging motorists traveling in main parts of Manhattan as soon as April 2024.
The congestion pricing plan, the first of its kind in the US, is expected to get final approval next month. It will charge E-ZPass motorists driving south of 60th Street, the city’s central business district, up to $23.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates the city’s subway, bus and commuter rail lines, released a final environmental assessment on Friday of the plan that includes new concessions for low-income motorists and Super AND Lift drivers.
The transit agency anticipates the United States Department of Transportation will give final approval after a 30-day public review period, a significant milestone that will allow toll construction to begin.
“Congestion pricing means less traffic, cleaner air, safer roads, better transportation,” MTA chief executive Janno Lieber said on Thursday during a media briefing on the plan.
MTA officials expect congestion pricing to lead to $1 billion in new revenue annually against which the agency will strive to raise $15 billion. These funds will help fund major capital projects such as expanding the Second Avenue Subway to Harlem, upgrading the subway signal system, and adding more elevators and escalators to stations to make them accessible.
A six-member Traffic Mobility Review Committee will determine the specific toll structure and discounts or exemptions. Drivers using an E-ZPass can pay up to $23 during peak hours and $17 during off-peak times. But the final environmental assessment includes concessions.
Passenger cars, taxis, and rental vehicles like Uber and Lyft would only be charged once a day.
“The MTA’s solution to the rideshare would be an unfeasible logistical nightmare,” a Lyft spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “Instead of further burdening drivers, the MTA should recognize that our industry has already paid them a congestion charge for years and focus on ensuring that the program is funded fairly among all who use our streets”.
An Uber spokesperson declined to comment.
For the first five years of the program, E-ZPass drivers earning less than $50,000 annually will receive a 25% discount starting with their 11th trip in a calendar month. The MTA estimates there are about 16,000 drivers in the area who would qualify for that reduced fare, Lieber said.
Manhattan borough residents with incomes less than $60,000 will be given a state tax credit. The final revision also includes lower nightly tolls than the MTA anticipated in August, an attempt at encouragement truck drivers to pay the new tax rather than bypass Manhattan and drive through the Bronx.
Officials estimate the toll plan will reduce the amount of daily vehicles entering the district by up to 20 percent and help increase mass transit ridership, according to the final environmental review.
The MTA needs the additional runners. While subway usage has risen steadily since the pandemic lows, weekday subway ridership is about 70 percent of 2019 levels, according to MTA data. And system-wide passengers may reach just 80 percent of pre-pandemic utilization by the end of 2026, the transit agency estimates.
While New York Gov. Kathy Hochul supports the plan, not everyone is on board. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has pledged to stop implementing it. He believes New Jersey residents shouldn’t pay for the MTA’s revenue problems. US Representatives Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican from the New York Borough of Staten Island, and Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat from New Jersey, say congestion pricing would increase pollution and traffic in their districts, adding another toll for their voters.
Lieber said the toll initiative could face legal action.
“We’ve studied the traffic intersections going all the way down to Philadelphia, every possible air quality scenario, all the social justice and physical impacts,” Lieber said. “I’m confident that if anyone disputes this, this will go up and that we will implement congestion pricing for New York.”
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